By Tyler Mayforth
Daily Record Sports
Katy — It took Southeastern Louisiana five minutes to turn Texas State’s 17-point halftime lead into a sliver of doubt in the Bobcats’ mind.
Two minutes later, the Lions molded said sliver into a steel hammer and crushed Texas State’s spirits.
The Bobcats choked away another double-digit lead in the quarterfinals of the Southland Conference tournament and watched their season come to a sudden conclusion. Last year, Nicholls State ended Texas State’s run — a year later, it was Southeastern’s turn.
After a stirring first half, the Bobcats limped to the finish and fell, 79-78, in overtime to the Lions.
“It was just really, really disappointing how we approached the second half, especially the first five minutes,” Texas State head coach Doug Davalos said. “We started giving up threes and it opened up the post game and one thing led to another and we just weren’t as good of a defensive team in the second half.”
Even though the Bobcats looked listless and uninspired after halftime, Texas State was as equally dominant and energized in the first 20 minutes.
The Bobcats might have entered the game as the second-worst team in the SLC defending their own basket and 3-point arc, but it didn’t show for a half against Southeastern, the league leader in both offensive categories.
Texas State locked down on the Lions’ jump shooters, especially Trent Hutchin, who entered the quarterfinal canning 44 percent of his 3-pointers. Hutchin only scored two points in the first half on 1-for-7 shooting (1 for 4 from downtown).
The Bobcats, on the other hand, found their open gunners and reaped the benefits. Texas State drilled seven 3-pointers in the first half (three by Ryan White) and led 41-24 at the break.
“When you’re playing well, everything seems to fall in line,” Davalos said. “When our defense wasn’t good, we didn’t get as good of looks offensively because of that.”
Once the Bobcats’ defense collapsed, Texas State’s confidence soon followed.
Southeastern opened up the second half on a 19-7 run thanks to Hutchin, who scored nine of his team-high 21 points in the first five minutes following the break.
“We just settled down and those first five or six minutes are really good to us in the second half,” Lions head coach Jim Yarbrough said. “We’ve become a team that whether we’re doing well or not, we start the second half very well.”
The 3-point barrage allowed Southeastern to work high-low with senior forward Patrick Sullivan. While Sullivan went off in the second half (12 points and four rebounds), Cameron Johnson tried his best to keep the Bobcats in the game.
Johnson matched Sullivan point-for-point and gave Texas State three different leads in the final two minutes with clutch 16-foot jump shots.
“When you play against somebody who’s supposedly better than you, it forces you to step up your game,” Johnson said. “That’s what happened tonight. I knew my team relied on me, so I had to do my best to keep us in it.”
Ultimately, it came down to Johnson with a shot to save the Bobcats’ season at the end of overtime.
Johnson received a long pass from John Rybak with 2.3 seconds remaining, turned to find an open basket (when his defender overplayed the pass) and forced up a shot. The ball bounced off the rim and onto the floor as time expired.
“It was a little bit of nerves and rushing the shot a little bit, but either way, it was a good look,” Johnson said. “It was something I should have knocked down.”
With the loss, Texas State ended its season with a 15-16 record. Southeastern improved to 3-10 in games it trailed at halftime and advance to play Sam Houston State in the semifinals.
“You empathize with them, but at the same time, you’ve sweated, toiled and worked very hard for eight months now and this is our chance,” Yarbrough said. “It’s either magic or it’s misery and luckily we still have one chance left.”
